Few Hopes for Reunification Plan - Christofias

There is little hope that a reunification plan can succeed due to Turkey's position that it should be based on two separate states, said President Demetris Christofias in a speech ahead of renewed talks set for January 4th.

Christofias is set to meet with Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu at Greentree Estate in the US at the end of January, where the leaders are expected to present their solutions to the toughest issues in the talks - property, territory, governance and power sharing. The talks are based on UN Resolutions envisioning a federal government system with one international identity and sovereignty.

Progress has been made in the UN-led talks which started three years ago, most notably on EU, internal security and economic affairs. But the core issues are still unsolved and highly controversial. Power sharing, for example, is meant to be on an equal political footing between the Greek-and-Turkish Cypriot communities, but hardliners on both sides say this is impossible. On the Greek side, ultra nationalists say that Cyprus is a Greek island and Turkish Cypriots can't have an equal political position because they are a minority. On the Turkish-Cypriot side, hardliners take the position that the 'TRNC' backed by Turkey is the only guarantee that the Turkish Cypriots have of gaining equality.

Second round at Greentree

This is the second round of talks at Greentree Estate. Between October 30th-November 1st, Ban ki-Moon and Cyprus leaders Demetris Christofias and Dervis Eroglu had intensive talks at Greentree in Manhasset in New York, with the main issues of governance, power-sharing, property and territory under discussion. Christofias said that bridging the differences by January would be difficult, but not impossible.

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